Albums

This month’s edition of the Ceremonial Counties tape series from Folklore Tapes features Essex and Rutland, two counties that share strong links to Britain’s Roman history. Laurel Morgan’s contribution, The Last Stand at Ambresbury, draws lines between the mythic Boudicca and modern ideas about landscape, ecology, feminism and rebellion, while guitarist and improviser Richard Chamberlain creates seven distinct pieces, each inspired by a different phase of Rutland’s history.

Grace Stewart-Skinner’s “Auchies Spikkin’ Auchie” is a remarkable debut. Its greatest strength lies in her fusion of the personal and the historical, where family heirlooms, such as poems from a beloved grandfather, become the foundation for a wider community archive. It not only preserves the Avochie dialect for future generations but also celebrates the spirit, humour, and resilience of the community that shaped it.

On fixe Idee, guitarist Eric Arn puts the mostly unadorned acoustic through its paces. Throughout this eclectic set, there are hints of early Robbie Basho, with a loose and free style of playing conjuring an image of carefree, sepia-toned summer life. It is the sound of an accomplished guitarist playing in his own style(s), and the result is excellent: singular, exciting and adventurous.

Celebrated traditional musicians Cormac Begley and Liam O’Connor release their new album this month, Into the Loam. Listen to the opening track “Ryan’s Rant”, which, like the album, creatively engages with tradition, seeking to forge something new. The traditional reel is offered as a tribute to the legendary Dublin fiddler Tommie Potts, who “continually pushed the boundaries of genre and expression.”

Faun Fables’ Counterclockwise is a strange, beguiling musical world. Overall, the record is an exploration of time, not simply thematically, for it also shifts perspectives, delighting in the head-spinning effect these shifting sands can have on your senses. It is a deep and eccentric work, but ultimately a deeply satisfying experience, with so many recognisable elements that you cannot help but sense a welcome familiarity too.

This Material Moment is Me Lost Me’s most personal album yet. On this new release, Newcastle-based Jayne Dent’s songwriting has become both more immediate and more accomplished, with each song existing in its own undeniable present. It’s an alarmingly good album, stormy and intense at one moment, wise and contemplative the next.

In a powerful intersection of art and environmental science, sound artist Yoichi Kamimura’s new album, “ryūhyō,” offers a poignant auditory document of Japan’s dwindling sea ice. The record is a sonic elegy for a changing ecosystem. Locals recall a time when the ice was thick enough to walk on, emitting a whistling sound known as Ryūhyō-Nari. Today, that sound is gone.

Tension, contrast and juxtaposition are words that inevitably come to mind at multiple points throughout All Smiles Tonight. Poor Creature are masters at harnessing that tension and creating soundworlds that are utterly compelling from start to finish. This is music that straddles darkness and light, and traverses the blasted terrain of loss in wholly unexpected ways, picking apart and reassembling the whole idea of folk music as it goes.

While “Morning Dew” may be recognised as Bonnie Dobson’s most iconic track, on her new album, Dreams, she showcases a collection of impressive new compositions. Partnering with the UK’s The Hanging Stars, her sound is infused with renewed vitality, resulting in a brilliantly fruitful collaboration. We can only hope that there will be more to come.

Sally Anne Morgan’s Second Circle the Horizon continues in a similar vein to 2021’s ‘Cups’ while leaning gently on some of the slightly broader-sounding arrangements on her other albums. The result is spot on: a quiet, sometimes enigmatic celebration of the purity of nature and life through the lens of versatile music inspired by the Appalachian tradition. It’s her most cohesive and accomplished album so far.

While Brìghde Chaimbeul has already established a distinctive musical voice, on Sunwise, she utilises it in new and unfettered ways; she treats experimentation and tradition with equal respect, always with an overriding sense that music is meant to be enjoyed.

Jazzman Records take us on a deep dive into the resilient, often defiant, spiritual jazz of the Soviet Bloc. From the early 1960s to the precipice of the 1980s, the tracks curated here reveal a fascinating dialogue between global modernism and deeply rooted local traditions. A radical, intoxicating brew that “no amount of guns, tanks or polonium tea could overcome.”